Mali’s former president Amadou Toumani Toure, who led the Sahel nation for 10 years before being ousted in a coup, has died in Turkey aged 72, a family member and a doctor said on Tuesday. “Amadou Toumani Toure died during the night of Monday to Tuesday in Turkey,” where he had been taken for health reasons, his nephew Oumar Toure told AFP. Details later…

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By Jabiru Hassan, Kano. The newly appointed Rector of the Kano state polytechnic, Dr. Kabir Bello Dungurawa has assume office last Monday in a colourful ceremony where he unveiled seven point agendas that would serve as his managerial blueprint during his tenure as Rector. Speaking shortly in his office Dr. Kabir Bello disclosed that his 7 point agendas were carefully planned in order to ensure that Kano institutions under Kano state polytechnic remained progressive in academic programmes especially when the Kano state government under the stewardship of governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje considers education sector very vital at all levels. He added that ” Kano state governor is working selflessly to ensure that our educational systems are being considered as an important that is why his Excellency the executive governor is giving the sector all the necessary supports that can lead to the successful implementation of the state’s free and compulsory education policy as seen at present”.
He emphasized. Announcing his 7 point agendas, Dr. Kabir Bello Dungurawa said that he is set to lead Kano state polytechnic with an open door policy so that everybody can give his own side of contribution towards the successful management of the organisation, enhances the provision of all the necessary supports to staffs, and the improvement of academic performance.
Other agendas are promotion of working relationship with the staff, good learning atmosphere at all the institutions that are under the polytechnic, speedy implementation of all the programmes under the polytechnic and the improving the cordial relationship with students unions in order to facilitate peaceful coexistence between the union bodies and the polytechnic so as to maintain progress at all levels.
The Rector finally thanked all those who spared their precious times in accompanying him to his new office, and assured that he would use his long-term working experience to promote the Kano state polytechnic towards an exemplary organisation selflessly.

Read more at: http://daybreak.ng/newly-appointed-kano-polytechnic-rector-assumes-office-debuted-with-7-point-agendas/

Joe Biden, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party has overtaken President Donald Trump with most votes in the state of Georgia, United States. The candidates had been locked in a virtual dead heat for much of Thursday November 5, with each controlling about 49.4 percent of the vote, but with Trump maintaining a slight lead. As absentee ballots were counted early Friday, Biden pulled ahead with 917 more votes. Flipping Georgia, a state last won by a Democrat in 1992, and where Trump won by more than 200,000 votes four years ago, would represent a significant political shift. But the state has shown signs of trending blue: When Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016, he did so by only five percentage points, a far slimmer margin than Republicans enjoyed in previous presidential elections.

Read more at: http://daybreak.ng/biden-overtakes-trump/

Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State has ordered the immediate removal of “pandemic prevention fee” from fees students of Abia State University are expected to pay upon resumption of academic activity in the university on Monday November 9. The Abia state Governor who gave the directive during a Town Hall meeting with students and management of the school on Thursday November 5, added that his government will pay N30,000 to each Abia student in the institution as further support to them, their parents and guardians. Ikpeazu said;

“Yesterday, I had a Town Hall meeting with students and management of Abia State University where a fee of N25,000 per student was proposed as a medical fee but slashed to N15,000 to help ABSU put in place adequate measures to protect the soon to resume students from COVID-19 pandemic. “In that same meeting, I approved immediate bursary payment to students of Abia origin in ABSU, to alleviate impact of COVID-19 on them & enable them meet the medical fee obligations with ease. “However, after a deep review of the agreement & its likely effect on all the students & their parents, I’ve directed the immediate scrapping of the “pandemic prevention fee” by school management. “Our government will now go ahead to pay N30,000 to each Abia student in the institution as further support to them, their parents and guardians in this very difficult moment of economic downturn caused by the global health crisis. ”Let me also add that we are proud of the progress made by the institution in the past 5 years and will continue to support them.”

Read more at: http://daybreak.ng/governor-ikpeazu-scraps-pandemic-prevention-fee-in-absu/

Several US TV networks late on Thursday halted live coverage of Donald Trump’s first public appearance since election night after concluding that the president was spreading disinformation. Trump unleashed a flood of incendiary and unsubstantiated claims in a 17-minute address, insisting that Democrats were using “illegal votes” to “steal the election from us. Trump began his remarks by claiming that Democrats were committing “fraud” and trying to “steal” the election. He opened his Thursday speech with referencing ballots counted after Tuesday November 3, which have moved challenger Joe Biden close to victory, as illegal. MSNBC moved fastest, with anchor Brian Williams cutting in just 35 seconds into Trump’s remarks to fact-check. The cable news network did not return to the president’s comments in the White House pressroom.

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Facebook has officially shut down a fast-growing pro-Trump “Stop the Steal,” for promoting election misinformation regarding ongoing vote counts and calling for violence. The Facebook group, which gathered more than 350,000 members and nearly 7,000 posts in two days, was reportedly used to organize protests and spreading false information that Democratic challenger Joe Biden was trying to steal the election. “In line with the exceptional measures that we are taking during this period of heightened tension, we have removed the Group ‘Stop the Steal,’ which was creating real-world events,” Facebook said in a statement. “The group was organized around the delegitimization of the election process, and we saw worrying calls for violence from some members of the group.” The group, which appeared to be linked to the pro-Trump organization Women for America First was created in the wake of President Donald Trump falsely claiming that he had defeated Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden during a speech on Wednesday November 4.

Read more at: http://daybreak.ng/us-election-facebook-bans-pro-trump-group-for-threats-of-violence/

From Noah Ocheni, Lokoja The National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Comrade Chris Isiguzo has described any attack on journalists as an attack on democracy. Comrade Isiguzo who made the call in Lokoja on Thursday at the grand finale of the Press Week organised by the Kogi State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), wondered while Journalists should be the target of their failure. The NUJ president described the role of journalists as pivotal to the emergency of responsible and thriving democracy in Nigeria, stressing “media should not be treated as guests to governance but as a critical stakeholders in ensuring good governance.” He therefore charged Media houses in Nigeria to remain a strategic stakeholders in the development of Democracy despite the challenges and professional hazards. Comrade Isiguzo who was reacting to the shooting of the Kogi State Correspondent of The Sun Newspaper, Emmanuel Adeyemi, in Lokoja during the recent #EndSARS protests condemned a situation where journalists are made easy targets of attacks in the course of covering crisis which they knew nothing about. The President called on Nigerian security agencies to arrest and prosecute gunmen that shot the Journalists in Kogi State. The Kogi state council chairman of the union, comrade Adeiza Momohjimoh, in his address of welcome, expressed gratitude to God for saving the life of Adeyemi, whom he said went through a successful surgery, following the gun shot he sustained during the crisis. Adeiza pointed out that “in the looting that followed the#EndSARS protests, NUJ members and our secretariat had no issues because we are not located close to any warehouses.” “As such, the looters have no business coming around the secretariat but unfortunately, the gunmen took over the town on that fateful day, drove pass through our Press centre and shot sporadically as members scampered for safety.” He added. “Thank God no one was hit, but our colleague, Emmanuel, who was on his way to the office was shot by some people police described as unknown gunmen.” Adeiza Momohjimoh confirmed that a successful surgery was done on Emmanuel and he is recovering fast.

Read more at: http://daybreak.ng/attacks-on-journalists-attack-on-democracy-arrest-gunmen-that-shot-the-sun-reporter-in-kogi-nuj/

The Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) has reported an explosion at a production facility in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 40. NPDC is an upstream subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The affected facility is managed by NNPC partners, Elcrest Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited. The incident occurred during evacuation at Gbetiokun Early Production facility. NNPC spokesman, Kennie Obateru, stated that there were no fatalities, injuries or significant spill after the blast. “There was, however, significant damage to the marine storage vessel, MT Harcourt, which will impact production by about 10,000barrels of oil per day”, he said in a statement Tuesday night. NNPC has commenced investigation to ascertain the cause of the incident.

Read more at: http://daybreak.ng/breaking-explosion-rocks-oml-40-managed-by-nnpc-partners/

The results of the 2020 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) conducted between August 17 and September 12 show that only 65.24 per cent of the candidates who sat for the examination have Credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics. The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) announced this on Monday at a media briefing on the release of the results of the 2020 Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSSCE). The examination was earlier scheduled to start on April 6 but could not because of the outbreak of Coronavirus. WAEC’s Head of the National Office, Patrick Areghan, noted that 1,549,740 candidates registered for the examination, while 1,538,445 sat for it. Areghan said 1,338,348 candidates, representing 86.99 per cent, obtained Credits and above in a minimum of any five subjects – with or without English Language and/or Mathematics. He said 1,003,668 candidates, representing 65.24 per cent, obtained Credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics. Areghan said the results of 215,149 candidates, representing 13.98 per cent of the total number of candidates that sat the examination, were being withheld. He said: “A total of 1,549,740 candidates registered for the examination from 19,129 recognised secondary schools in Nigeria. Of the number that registered for the examination, 1,538,445 candidates sat the examination.” The examination was also taken by candidates from schools in Cote d’Ivoire, Benin Republic and Equatorial Guinea, where the Nigeria curriculum for Senior Secondary School is being used. The spokesman also said the results of candidates representing 13.9 per cent of the total number of candidates that sat the examination were being withheld in connection with cases of malpractice. “The cases are being investigated and reports of the investigations will be presented to the appropriate Committee of the Council for determination in due course,” he said. Candidates who sat the examination and have duly fulfilled their financial obligations can check their results on the examination body’s website: www.waecdirect.org.

Read more at: http://daybreak.ng/only-65-24-per-cent-candidates-pass-2020-wassce-exam-waec-reveals/

Ex President Shehu Shagari”s Adviser on national assembly matters who is now the Chairman Northern Elders Council (NEC) Elder Tanko Takasai has revealed why the north did not take part in the ENDSARS Protest that almost almost rocks the booth. Yakasai, the first republic politician who. made the revelation in an interview with correspondent said the north did not participated in Anti-Nigeria activities since the 1953 rioting because of its commitment to the unity of the country.”EndSARS protest is a slogan given to agitation for breaking up of Nigeria, that has been on for the past two years and more. And this is what most Nigerians understand it to be. “And that is why most of them did not involve themselves in the demonstration. As you had seen, the demonstration was limited to very few areas. Out the 36 states there are vertically not more than 10 states that were involved. Even those states, it was limited to some parts of it, largely because of the locations where relief materials were stored in other to steal from it”, he said. According to him, the only area where more people came out in number was Lagos, in ikoyi, Victoria island and Lekki where the riches are living, adding that most of the participants were those looking for opportunity to loots. “But is good that it happened because people who think they can use media – newspapers and television to incite people to break up their Nation are now woefully disappointed because they couldn’t succeed in getting majority of Nigeria even to buy their ideas. It has helped and has shown that agitators for breaking up Nigeria are tiny minority among Nigerians”, he added.. Elder Takasai noted that “Right from 1953 rioting to date the north did not participate in any anti Nigeria activities because of their commitment to the unity of Nigeria. “Anti Nigeria, Infact the anti Nigeria sentiment is more wide spread in Southwest than even in the southeast. “Even in the South West it is more supported or accepted by followers and supporters of the defunct Action Group, (AG).As you know the southwest is divided into two from the beginning: the NCNC and AC parties. “This division continue to manifest itself in the region even from second republic when there was UPN and NPN. So is not the entire southwest that accepted the notion that Nigeria should be destroy as a country”, he narrated. He continue that “Now I’m glad that they have seen the limit that their propaganda can go even in the southwest. I’ve been a member of NEPU, a political party that commit itself right from 1951 when the party had it first convention, for the creation of more region at that time in Nigeria, and I’m still in support of that, just to give minority elements right of self determination. The last conference convened by Jonathan administration took a definite position on the issues of the number of regions Nigeria have at moment. We can start with that point of view”, he said. According to him, the only thing new in the demand or agitation of the ENDSARS youth protesters was that of the banning of SARS, which he said, government immediately cede to that demand. He also said most of other demands made by the youths are contained in the 2014 Confab, adding that whatever the weakness “Nigeria is going through, the recommendation of the Confab capture them, if you look through it. We captured all the recommendation of other conference. And most of the recommendations of other conferences were addressed in 2014 Confab recommendation. “We’ve a democratic government in place in the country, elected by the people. It does not matter whether you like the faces of the people or not, they’re elected. What we’ve in Nigeria is the 1999 constitution used in Nigeria. It’s the supreme legal documents we have. So there’s nothing new in the protest that youth are saying from what is contained in 2014 Confab except the ban on ENDSARS thing which many Nigeria supported and government accepted. “But certainly, we must have police in Nigeria. Government should look into the problem people complained, the problem caused by some undesirable elements in the police are still there. But the government is creating a new group one. Let us give it a chance. If there were problems in the past, it will not be repeated again, if not, let them stay.

Read more at: http://daybreak.ng/why-north-did-not-participate-in-endsars-protest-tanko-yakasai/